


Motherhood

by ofstormsandwolves



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 12:12:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10808781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofstormsandwolves/pseuds/ofstormsandwolves
Summary: Jackie Tyler ponders motherhood.





	Motherhood

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a drabble. It got away from me.

Being a mum was hard. If anyone had ever told Jackie Tyler that 20 years ago, she’d have laughed. Sure, it had its difficulties, but it couldn’t be that bad, could it? You fed the kid, you clothed them, you loved them and you spoiled them.

But then they grew up. Then they became defiant teenagers with attitudes and a will to be independent. Then they got jobs, and worked, and had a life outside of your own. Then your child meets someone- someone who makes them smile and laugh- and you might not approve, but it’s their choice.

Your kid drove you mad with worry, vanished for a year without a trace. Then returned, vague answers and a bloke as old as you in tow, with piercing blue eyes and cropped hair and a leather jacket. Your child made a decision- an impossible decision that could have ended their life- and you swear you couldn’t convince her otherwise. So you appealed to him instead. She’s just a kid, you told him, and you know he knew that. She’s just a kid. But your nineteen year old thought she was so much more.

And just when you thought you’d got your daughter back, he whisked her away again. You went weeks at a time with barely more than a quick phone call. And you worried, because they were far away and they thought they were so mature, but they weren’t. You wanted to protect them, wanted to shelter them from the world the same way you did when they were little. But they weren’t little any more, and you couldn’t protect them from everything, even if you wanted to.

Your child returned, without the bloke who whisked her away, and as much as you hated him for taking her, and loved him for returning her, the look on your daughter’s face broke your heart. He’d done the right thing, sending her home to you and keeping her safe. You wanted to do the selfish thing, keep her with you, in your arms, and shelter her from the entire universe.

But you wanted to do the right thing, and for you the right thing was making your daughter happy, and helping her with what she wanted. You helped your child rip open a time machine, watched as both child and machine faded from your life. 

And you waited.

And you worried.

And when both blue box and child returned, weeks later on Christmas Eve, it wasn’t with the bloke as old as you, with piercing blue eyes and cropped hair. It was a younger man, wide brown eyes and a grin and messy brown hair. The leather jacket was the same, but that was all. And he collapsed at your feet and your child returned to your arms for support.

You nursed this familiar stranger back to fitness, held your child as they sobbed into your shoulder, watched from afar as, together, they saved the Earth. And you stood there, that night on Christmas Day, watching as your child and the familiar stranger grinned at each other, hands interlocked as they gazed at the stars. And you knew. You can’t protect your child from everything, and your child has to find their own way in life.

You had to let go. You had to let your kid go.

Being a mum was hard. But Jackie Tyler wouldn’t change it for the world.


End file.
